Frankly Speaking...

“TEENAGERS”

What in the world has happened? We put them to bed normal and they’ve awakened weird. Our kids (or grandkids) have become teenagers! They dress for school and its looks like a Groucho Marx comedy outfit. You meet their friends. You want to say to them, “Pick a gender and stick with it.” What do we do? Sell them to the zoo? A couple took their seventh grade son to his very first youth activity. They found the youth director and said to him, “Hi! This is our son, Johnny. We’ll pick him up when he turns eighteen.”

Parenting (or grandparenting) an adolescent is not for the weak and feebleminded. Teenagers are hard to understand. The problem is, they’re half child and half adult. They say, “Don’t tell me what to do,” and then 30 minutes later they ask, “What should I do?” Of course, we’ve all heard of the teenager who said, “No one is going to tell ME what to do, I’m going to go join the Marines.”

What many in our church family have discovered is that being a teenager is a whole lot easier than being the parent of one. Legend has it that one day Saint Peter passed a blind man and healed him. Then he came to a man who was crying, and Peter asked what was the problem. The man said, “I am the father of a teenager.” Saint Peter sat down and wept with him.

Seriously, though, what do you do when you are the discouraged parent of a teenager? Well, first remember that he/she is God’s child, not yours. Also remember that even God (the perfect parent) had some problems with His first two kids, Adam & Eve. And if you’re feeling guilty, don’t! Just keep trusting God, and keep your cool.

Finally, always remember what the old country preacher said: “The Bible says that everything comes to pass, nothing comes to stay.” These teenage years will pass. And if these things haven’t encouraged you, just think about this: one day your children will have teenagers of their own.

Serving Jesus with you,    Pastor Frank